Camden
Camden is a city in New Jersey and the county seat of Camden County. Nucky Thompson's election rigging trial is scheduled to be held in Camden from the 23 August 1921. ("Georgia Peaches") The city is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the Western border of New Jersey. Camden was originally incorporated as a city on February 13, 1828, from portions of the now-defunct Newton Township, while the area was still part of Gloucester County. On March 13, 1844, Camden became part of the newly formed Camden County. In 1920 the city had a population of 116,309 people. One of the U.S.'s first railroads, the Camden and Amboy Railroad, was chartered in Camden in 1830. The Camden and Amboy Railroad allowed travelers to travel between New York City and Philadelphia via ferry terminals in South Amboy, New Jersey and Camden. Camden has been connected to Atlantic City by railroad since 1877 when the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway opened and its transport links made it an important part of the burgeoning tourist economy and growth of Atlantic City in the late nineteenth century. It is 57.8 miles to the North West of Atlantic City. History Fort Nassau (located within the present boundaries of nearby Gloucester City, New Jersey), was built by the Dutch West India Company in 1626, and was the first European attempt to settle the area now occupied by Camden. Initial European activity in the vicinity of present-day Camden occurred along the banks of the Delaware River where the Dutch and the Swedish vied for control of the local fur trade. Europeans continued to settle in and improve the area during the 17th century. Much of the growth directly resulted from the success of another Quaker colony across the Delaware River known as Philadelphia, which was founded in 1682 and soon had enough population to attract a brisk trade from West Jersey and Camden. To accommodate the trade across the river, a string of ferries began operation. For over 150 years, Camden served as a secondary economic and transportation hub for the Philadelphia area. But that status began to change in the early 19th century. One of the U.S.'s first railroads, the Camden and Amboy Railroad, was chartered in Camden in 1830. The Camden and Amboy Railroad allowed travelers to travel between New York City and Philadelphia via ferry terminals in South Amboy, New Jersey and Camden. The railroad terminated on the Camden waterfront, and passengers were ferried across the Delaware River to their final Philadelphia destination. The Camden and Amboy Railroad opened in 1834 and helped to spur an increase in population and commerce in Camden. Originally a suburban town with ferry service to Philadelphia, Camden evolved into its own city, as industry and neighborhoods grew. Camden prospered during strong periods of manufacturing demand and faced distress during periods of economic dislocation. From 1901 through the 1920s, Camden was headquarters of the Victor Talking Machine Company, and thereafter to its successor RCA Victor, the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records for the first two-thirds of the 20th century. RCA Victor contained one of the first commercial recording studios in the United States, where Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, among others, recorded. RCA had 23 out of 25 of its factories inside Camden. From 1899 through the 1920s, Camden was the home of New York Shipbuilding Corporation. The Fairview Village section of Camden (initially Yorkship Village) was a planned European-style garden village built by the Federal government during World War I to house New York Shipbuilding Corporation workers. Campbell Soup was also a major employer. In his book Capital Moves: RCA's Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor, Jefferson Cowie mentions that Camden in the 1920s was known as "the Citadel of Republicanism". External links *Camden on Wikipedia Category: Cities